1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to medical-surgical supplies for hospitals, infirmaries, doctors' offices and the like, and more particularly to a foldup, disposable container having a closure for holding and disposing of used medical-surgical materials, including "sharps," e.g. hypodermic needles, suture needles and scalpel blades.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
This decade has seen an acceleration of the trend in the field of medical care provision of the use of disposable, one-time-use medical-surgical devices and materials. This trend is away from the former procedure of sterilization and re-use of these devices, both for reasons of expense and sterility.
Present hospital protocol in those institutions employing the use-and-dispose philosophy entails the assembly and distribution by unskilled personnel of clean, but not sterilized, flexible plastic or paper containers to those locations where containment is required, e.g., operating rooms, nurses' stations, soiled linen rooms and emergency rooms, or so-called "med/surg" rooms, i.e., those where simple, out-patient surgery is performed.
The containers are then used by medical personnel to contain used medical-surgical materials, e.g., used hypodermic syringes, needles, dressings, cotton applicators, etc., until the containers become filled, at which time they are collected by unskilled housekeeping personnel for disposal. In some states, this involves processing of the used materials by incineration, and in some states, by law, the materials are "red-bagged" or boxed, and stored for pick-up by contract disposal personnel. The containers of materials to be disposed may then be autoclaved under low-pressure steam to sterilize them, then buried in a landfill.
During the containment and disposal procedure, it is desirable that the person using the containers be protected from direct contact from infectious materials with which the used medical materials may be contaminated. Moreover, it is also desirable to protect personnel from contact with so-called "sharps" i.e., those materials capable of causing wounding injury, such as hypodermic needles or scalpels. Regarding the latter, it is also desirable that the containers present a relatively tamper-resistant barrier against the casual scavenger intent on procuring hypodermic needles and/or syringes for illicit purposes.
Various types of disposable containers having been developed heretofore for use in disposal, counting and/or containment of used medical materials, such as in my prior U.S. Pats. Nos. 4,013,109 and 4,418,821, and such as is described in my pending patent application, Ser. No. 838,296, filed on Mar. 10, 1986, and entitled, "A Rigid, Disposable Container for Holding and Disposing of Used Medical Sharps and Other Medical/Surgical Materials."
I have found that it would be desirable to provide a more inexpensive, simpler disposable container for holding and disposing of used medical materials, which folds flat for storage and can be folded up by relatively unskilled labor to form the desired container, while yet retaining the above-described desirable attributes.